Refund Request

[Kathy T · Accepted solution]

Manual hours are not covered by Upwork's Payment Protection Plan. Which means, that a client can dispute any manual hours and they automatically don't have to pay for them. It doesn't matter if the client discussed this with you, or gave you the go ahead to add them. He can, if he chooses not to pay for them. The only thing you can do is to add them to this weeks work and hope that the client will accept them and pay for them. If not, then there's nothing you can do except us Tracker to record all the hours you spend on the computer working. 

[Preston H]

Douglas is right:

If you are ever in a situation where you are working BEYOND the weekly-allowed number of hours...

You might as well CONTINUE using the Deskop time-tracker.

The client can see the hours you work, and see that you're working without getting paid.

If the client DOES increase the maximum number of hours you can work in the current week, then you will get paid for those hours, and they will NOT be considered manual time. Those hours will be covered by Upwork Payment Protection.

[Laurence H]

Thank everyone for the great advice. I really appreciate it. I will use this information for future reference.

[Christine A]

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Preston H wrote:

Douglas is right:

If you are ever in a situation where you are working BEYOND the weekly-allowed number of hours...

You might as well CONTINUE using the Deskop time-tracker.

The client can see the hours you work, and see that you're working without getting paid.

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Maybe I'm missing something here, but it sounds like the client told the OP that there was a weekly limit that he didn't want to exceed. In such cases - in which a freelancer discovers that the hours aren't enough to complete a project - wouldn't it be a good idea to discuss it with the client, instead of just continuing to track the time and hope for the best? 

[Douglas Michael M]

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Christine A wrote:

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Preston H wrote:

Douglas is right:

If you are ever in a situation where you are working BEYOND the weekly-allowed number of hours...

You might as well CONTINUE using the Deskop time-tracker.

The client can see the hours you work, and see that you're working without getting paid.

---

Maybe I'm missing something here, but it sounds like the client told the OP that there was a weekly limit that he didn't want to exceed. In such cases - in which a freelancer discovers that the hours aren't enough to complete a project - wouldn't it be a good idea to discuss it with the client, instead of just continuing to track the time and hope for the best? 

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I think you, Preston, and I are all in agreement. Prior arrangement is best. The time tracker, if one pushes it into overtime, will also make this point to the freelancer.

In my case, the client and I had already reached and documented prior agreement that there could be overtime, at the point where the client accelerated the deadline. It was my misunderstanding of the procedure that kept me from suggesting they formalize the agreement by raising the limit.

My suggestion to the OP was simply that a post-facto case for overtime hours would be better documented by the tracker than by his say-so, and that the tracker provides for this.

[Preston H]

re: "Maybe I'm missing something here, but it sounds like the client told the OP that there was a weekly limit that he didn't want to exceed. In such cases - in which a freelancer discovers that the hours aren't enough to complete a project - wouldn't it be a good idea to discuss it with the client, instead of just continuing to track the time and hope for the best?"

Yes.

Of course the right thing to do is discuss hours with the client.

My point is this:

IF you (as a freelancer) decide - for any reason - to work past the time limit... Then you may as well continue using the time-tracker. That's what I do.

Sometimes I get paid for those hours. Sometimes I don't.

But it doesn't hurt to track them using the tool which generates work diaries, screenshots, and potentially Upwork Payment Protection.

But Christine is correct: Any time you start going over the weekly limit, the best thing to do is talk to the client.

Generally one would want to get the hours increased, or wait until next week.

[Laurence H]

 @ Christine A.: yes - the client had set a weekly limit which he did not want to exceed. I agree with your point that I should have discuss with the client about overtime work. 

@ Preston H: I agree with your point

@ Douglas Michael M: i agree with your point.

Thanks to all for your helpful insight.

[Lucio Ricardo M]

Ho, some times the clients appear to vanish.